#MyPlayToday ... Pericles
Had I read the play before? No
Had I seen the play before? Yes
A day at home spent with Shakespeare's notorious wanderer. I say a day - Pericles has been one of those plays that has lived with me for more like the past half a year. For an obscure late play, rarely performed and not even in the First Folio, it's a happy stroke of serendipity that earlier this year I was fortunate to see this play in performance twice in four months.
'And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is tost.'
Per. 2.PRO
By waves from coast to coast is tost.'
Per. 2.PRO
As its original audiences were thought to be, I am very much enamoured of Pericles. Its varied episodic structure and propensity for random adventure has the child in me marvelling. The heart-rending plot devices which are characteristic of Shakespeare's late plays as well as a brush with the rarely-maintained threat of sexual violence (earning Marina a mention in my dissertation which I promise I will stop banging on about) makes this oddball of a play stand out to the early modernist in me. It is also a fantastic example of another theme that captivates me within Shakespeare; the ways in which he manifests and acknowledges his source material.
As in Titus, the source for Pericles gets its own curtain call. Perhaps this is another reason why the 'mouldy tale' has been nestled away in performance obscurity. It's a little uncomfortable to think of Shakespeare as a stand-alone genius when he writes another author into his play.
Although, I cannot claim Pericles rots on the shelves of un(/der)performed plays and not mention the fantastic productions I have seen. Pericles as a play has lived with me recently, as I mentioned earlier, in part because of the astonishing effect of its performances. As a belated birthday present last year I saw Pericles (with the incomparable James Garnon) at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse which, not least for the atmosphere of that performance space, was enchanting and touching and riotously funny. Within a few months I was back in York watching a company I myself previously acted with, the York Shakespeare Project, bring their joyous and spirited twist to the play.
'Thou'rt heir of kingdoms, and another life
To Pericles, thy father'
Per.5.1.209-10
... And yes. Each time I cried. For the reunion scene which nearly closes this play I would endure another twenty riddles as opaque and laughable as the one which opens the play at Antiochus. (Among a wealth of other late play tropes that make these plays so truly endearing, the habit of slightly-crap riddles is one that I certainly wouldn't miss. I'm looking at you, here, Cymbeline).
Though not in the least bit sea-tossed, I had a few reunions of my own today; spending the afternoon on an odyssey of a far smaller scale, wandering the shops of my hometown. More than anything, finally getting round to reading this quirky gem of a play (one that has been search for a spot to drop anchor for a few months now in the back of my mind) felt like a wonderful homecoming.
One entirely random thought/question the play inspired of me today: Note to self, Gower would make a really interesting framework for Shakespeare's models of source authority in other plays.
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